Barriers: Anderson Special Ops - Book 3

by Melody Anne

  Eyes gave up trying to drag her away and made his way to the men. They were simply trying to keep up with the women in their lives.

  He looked at Chad and Joseph. “Men, I have a plan, but I need to know how you want to handle this. I think it would be okay, but since you’re the leaders of this group I’m asking for permission,” he said while keeping his focus downrange at the beauty amassed on the pier.

  “Let’s hear it,” Joseph said.

  “When we started this, it was under the umbrella of family taking care of family and in that family taking care of community. Correct?” Eyes asked.

  “Correct.” Joseph looked over at the team leader, wondering where he was going with his question.

  “With that, we’re about to enter a new stage of this mission. There are still some drug leaders out there we’re going to get, but there’s a new world that hasn’t been discussed yet, and one that I, nor any of these men, can take care of.”

  No one said anything, letting him continue with his thought process.

  “My thought is to have the women take over bringing the sword to the neck of the dragon. Look at what we have in front of us. We have Courtney, a journalist who, as we know, we need to help control the media aspect. We have Avery, a lawyer who can handle a courtroom better that just about anyone on earth. We have Erin, a marketing guru who can work with the journalist in breaking this into a multi-media campaign. We have Mallory, the senator’s assistant, or previous assistant now, who just so happens to work with the FBI, and will be able to give us more information than we know what to do with, and then we have Amira,” Eyes stopped mid-sentence, looked down the line at Smoke, gave his goofball smile, and winked at his friend.

  Smoke took his shirt off, wrung out the few remaining drops of water and said, “Keep going and I’ll take you out to the deep end of the pool and see how far down I can push you.”

  All the men gave similar huffs of laughter.

  “Anyway, before I was so rudely interrupted, I think they could make a formidable team that can help bring this all to a perfect ending,” Eyes said.

  Chad seemed shocked but intrigued by the idea. Staying secret wasn’t so easy to do when they were all dropping like flies, falling in love. Wasn’t it better to include the women and have no secrets? They weren’t doing anything illegal and were actually cleaning up the city. They weren’t using lethal force or bending laws — not exactly. They might enter some grey territory, but they were doing nothing that would get any of them thrown in jail. He’d love to have Bree on the team. She was brilliant.

  “I like it,” Chad said in only a few seconds.

  “Eyes, your plan is excellent. I know your nickname is based on your last name but your ability to see things and put them together is amazing,” Joseph said proudly. “And I see a great amount of strength in the women of this group, and in my granddaughter, who’s dying to help.”

  “Thank you, sir, but it doesn’t take much to see how perfect these women are,” Eyes replied.

  Heads nodded in unison and understanding. Before them were some beautiful women for sure, but even more important were how intelligent each of them was and how they used that intelligence to enhance their natural talents.

  The men couldn’t stand it any longer. Led by Joseph, they walked straight to the women they couldn’t seem to function without.

  Eyes walked up to Courtney, feeling a pull in his gut as her stunning eyes focused on him.

  “Ready for your interview, big man?” she asked as she trailed a fingernail down his arm.

  He laughed as he snaked that arm around her and pulled her tight. Her eyes widened for a moment as an electric current passed between the two of them, but she quickly composed herself.

  “We’ll interview tomorrow since you’ve come so far for your story. Tonight, we celebrate the wedding of good friends, we eat too much, and we drink way, way too much,” he said. “Then maybe we sneak off somewhere and see what this electricity is all about.”

  He was trying to shock her, to see what she was made of, to see if she was a woman who wanted some mutual fun. Her confidence told him she was. But if he was himself from the start he didn’t have to try to backtrack or give her the illusion they were going into anything other than a fun affair.

  “Hmm, I’m definitely up for the party and lots of drinking. I like this crowd. As for you . . .” She paused as she pulled back and looked at him from head to toe before she winked. “I’m still deciding. Let’s see how much you impress me, then maybe, just maybe I’ll give you a little taste.”

  Eyes’s mouth was left hanging open as she walked away from him, her round ass swaying in her short shorts as she moved to the open bar and ordered a Sex on the Beach. The damn bartender drooled as much as Eyes as she gave him her order with a husky voice that was every man’s wet dream come to life.

  Every hunter instinct in him wanted to stake his claim, but he wasn’t going to make it that easy on her. He took his time walking to the bar and arrived just as she was handed her drink, one Eyes was sure had a few extra garnishments on it. She licked the rim of the glass before wrapping her lips around the straw and slowly sucking, making his shorts painfully tight. He was never more grateful for a stretched out wet shirt that was hiding what she was doing to him.

  “Mmm,” she purred. “Don’t you just love a good Sex on the Beach?” The little minx batted her long, thick eyelashes at him, and he was close to throwing her over his shoulder and showing her how good real sex on the beach could be.

  Eyes didn’t get a chance to say a single word before she sauntered away. The party kept going, and no matter how he told himself to stop chasing her, he was a goner from the time she’d arrived. He was her damn puppet.

  Once Joseph and the rest of the parental crowd went to bed, the party turned up about ten notches with music blaring, drinks continuously flowing, and laughter ringing out loud and clear. The team was hopeful, full of joy, and celebrating with the people they respected and liked the most in this world.

  “Brothers! Listen to me,” Eyes called out over the music that was possibly a hundred decibels too loud. He’d never admit it, but he was far past buzzed, something he never allowed himself when he was team leader and needed to be on constant alert. But they were on an island, had a crapload of security, and he knew how to sober himself quickly. If he was needed, he’d come back strong. For once he wanted to let go.

  “I’m so thankful for all of you. Carl and Steve, I know I’ve said it before, but congratulations on finding women who could put up with your ugly butts.”

  “I love Steve’s butt!” a woman’s voice yelled out, laughs following the exclamation.

  “Me too!” a man’s voice replied, everyone knowing it was Sleep. He couldn’t help himself, more laughs followed.

  Eyes put up his hand asking for the crowd to listen. “I know I might be a bit tipsy, but I just want to say — I love you all.” He then bowed, lost his balance for a step, fell forward, rolled, popped back up with his beer still in his hand, raised it, and started chugging.

  Cheers went up in the air, drinks spilled from containers as they shot up faster than the cheers, and everyone gave hugs. The music became mesmerizing, drinks were passed around, dancing started, at first as a crowd but soon pairs parted off, sweat started to bead on foreheads, everyone felt the atmosphere and continued. Even the pregnant women, who were as sober as a summer day was long, kept cheering and dancing. Each song that brought back memories of youthful dancing was cheered and danced to.

  At some point a slow song came on and the two pairs who weren’t couples didn’t hesitate joining together, and dancing along with everyone else. The cool sand was welcomed relief under hot feet.

  Smoke and Amira looked as if they should be on the cover of every magazine gracing supermarket shelves. Their bodies were like Greek gods, making them seem more suitable on a Hollywood set than in the middle of nowhere. They were both laughing — heads back,
mouths open, laughing.

  The sexual energy between Eyes and Courtney was almost a living, breathing thing that made other couples around them hot and bothered. Eyes felt good, very good, and enjoyed the touch of this particular woman. He took control of her arms and placed them over his shoulders as he leaned into her neck. She obliged, but didn’t pull him in closer like he wanted her to. She was having a hell of a time teasing him, and he was so entranced, he was letting her.

  “Courtney Tucker,” Eyes whispered.

  “Jon Eisenhart,” Courtney replied with a sexy smile.

  They swayed together for a moment before Eyes stepped back, took one of her hands and twirled her around and then beneath his arm. When she came back around, he stopped, her back to his chest, his arms around her chest. The passion was so intense Eyes felt as if he couldn’t breathe. Was this too much for him to enter an affair with her? Was he playing with fire? He’d desired women before, but never to this intensity.

  Some franticly paced song stopped the sweet, romantic dancing as everyone instantly went back to hugging and laughing and kicking sand in a wild array of rhythmic movements. It was late enough to know it was late, but too early for anyone to feel like they needed to be in bed. The group had gotten two people smaller, but it wasn’t noticed at first . . . then another duo disappeared . . . and then another. Soon there were only four people standing together. Smoke and Amira, and Eyes and Courtney. They turned the music down and started talking.

  The music played in the background as they collapsed at a card table. Snacks were placed before them and they attempted to play some poker in their inebriated minds. They laughed more, talked a lot, and made it another hour before Amira’s eyes began closing.

  Smoke offered to walk her to her cabana.

  That left Eyes alone with Courtney for the first time since she’d leaned over that pier looking at him with her mesmerizing eyes.

  “One for the road?” Courtney asked Eyes as she rose, indicating she was going back to her sleeping quarters . . . alone.

  “Let’s do it,” Eyes said, meaning more than one thing in that statement.

  She leaned down and Eyes’s body throbbed in anticipation. She whispered her lips across his so lightly he wondered if they’d touched at all. Then she stepped back.

  “Not gonna happen, but thanks for the offer. Let’s see if you impress me more tomorrow.”

  Eyes was so stunned by her words, he sat there as she walked away, a beer in her hand, her sweet ass swaying, and her laughter ringing back at him. He didn’t turn until long after she’d disappeared.

  And Eyes realized one thing in that moment. He didn’t care how long it took, didn’t care how much effort he had to put into it. That woman was going to be his.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Mallory leaned back in Hendrick’s arms as gentle waves lapped the ocean shore, sliding over their toes, the warm water almost as soothing as the feel of Hendrick’s arms around her. Sitting in paradise gave Mallory the illusion that the real world didn’t exist.

  “I don’t ever want to leave here. I know when we get back to Washington there’s going to be all sorts of BS raining down on us,” Mallory told him.

  “I know what you mean. Joseph insisted on a real wedding for Steve and Erin, and it really worked out for all of us. We need to refresh sometimes to do our jobs effectively. If a person is going to get a cleansing, a tropical island with no interruptions is the way to do it,” Hendrick said.

  “Well . . . there have been a few fun interruptions,” she pointed out.

  Hendrick laughed. “Damn, it was amazing watching Smoke dive in after the beautiful doctor who seems to have him all tongue-tied. And the fact that Joseph brought in the reporter who’s chasing Eyes for a story makes me want a large bowl of popcorn so I can sit back and watch the show.”

  “Your names all fit you,” Mallory said with a laugh. “Eyes certainly sees all except for cupid’s arrow heading straight for him, and Smoke is the fastest man I’ve ever seen. For someone so large, that’s crazy. Sleep is so relaxed and in love, and Brackish, well, Brackish I don’t fully understand, but I’m sure there’s a story there.” She paused. “But why are you Green?”

  Green laughed. “Because I’ve always been the youngest of the group, so they decided to call me Green as if I was a newbie,” he said. “You’ve never shared your name. What is it?”

  Mallory laughed. “I don’t want to say,” she said.

  “Come on, you have mine. It’s time you share,” he said.

  Mallory knew she was going to tell him, but she was a bit shy about talking about something so inane it didn’t matter. How had this man made her lose all of her sense?

  “Come on, Mallory, let it spill,” he said.

  She finally said it in a whisper. “I-Nee.”

  She watched as his brow furled as he ran the name through his head trying to figure out why in the world she’d be called I-Nee.

  Finally, he smiled. “Ah, it’s a play off the word hinny because your ass is so damn fine.”

  She grinned as she gave his great butt a squeeze.

  “Hmm, you know what they say about flattery,” she told him with a giggle. “But, no, I wish it was about my butt. The reality is I’m a book nerd – always have been, and always will be. So, my team found me reading a Harry Potter book when I was on the ship and began calling me Hermione. Eventually, it got simplified down to I-Nee.”

  Mallory had done so much in her short life from diving below the sea in a naval submarine to going through the extensive and often grueling training with the FBI, and the name she’d hold the rest of her life was I-Nee, a character from a book. On the good side, Hermione was one kickass character, her favorite of all time.

  “I like it,” he told her. “It’s very fitting, and quite adorable, just as you are.” Green paused and said in his nerdiest voice possible, “You’ve most certainly cast a spell over me. I knew you were secretly a witch.” He gave her a wink.

  “Okay, enough of my name. What do you think will happen with the senator? Will she get out of this mess she’s in?” Mallory asked.

  Hendrick seemed to be thinking hard on it. “There’s always a chance of that happening. It amazes me when I see true criminals escaping the law because of technicalities. It makes me question our justice system.”

  “There are times I want to go back to the Wild West days. When you caught a man doing something wrong, he was tried right then and there and punished. It seems the more power people are given the more they abuse it. Why can’t we all live by the same moral code?”

  Hendrick laughed. “That’s a really tough one because we all have different moral codes,” he said.

  “There are some things that should be basic. We don’t lie, cheat, or break the law,” she said.

  “But whose law are we following?” he pointed out. “And if your child is hungry and you don’t have bread, would you steal a loaf? Not everything is black and white. It took me a long time to figure that out.”

  “If people all lived by a decent moral code a child would never be hungry,” Mallory said.

  Hendrick hugged her tighter to him as he kissed the back of her neck. “I wish I had the answer you need to hear, but I think the more people try to impose their own vision on the rest of society the more they stray. If everyone simply lived their lives without judgement and fear the world would be a better place.”

  “I don’t care what someone does in their own home. I just don’t want them telling me what I can do in mine. How does anyone justify telling me how to live my life so it meets their vision?” Mallory asked.

  “A lot of those people trying to tell you how to live truly believe they are helping. It’s actually why I don’t love cities. In the country where people aren’t stacked on top of one another, they live freer with less stress and they live their own lives without the need to preach to others on how to live theirs. Maybe someday the world will take notice and go
back to a simpler time.”

  “We can always dream,” Mallory told him. Then she smiled big. “Didn’t you tell me what seems like centuries ago to remind you to tell me the story of something on your ship?”

  He laughed. She loved his laughter.

  “Yes, I did. I forgot all about that,” he said.

  “Well, I didn’t. Tell me.”

  “It was brilliant and painful afterward,” he said.

  “Go ahead then,” she said.

  “As you already know, shellback initiation dates back at least four hundred years in western seafaring. The ceremony entails a mariner’s transformation from a slimy pollywog — to the layman, a seaman who hasn’t crossed the equator — into a trusty shellback,” he began.

  “And once they’re a trusty shellback they are also a son or daughter of Neptune,” Mallory said. “It’s a time-honored tradition for sailors to be tested for their seaworthiness.”

  “Ah, you might know a thing or two,” he said with a laugh.

  “I was very competitive during my time in the Navy. I know a lot,” she said with a laugh.

  “I think your competitive spirit is a huge turn-on,” he said before kissing her neck long enough to fry her brain. She pulled away, feeling slightly dazed.

  “Don’t distract me. I want to hear the story,” she said.

  “Well, the day before we crossed the equator, my master chief told me I was to fall in with line with the rest of the puke polywogs and go through the entirety of the initiation process. As you know, a SEAL team would never allow non-SEALs to breach our ranks, especially with any type of hazing coming from someone who wasn’t a SEAL. I knew better than to argue it, and also knew he’d already made his decision known to the rest of the team — so they didn’t try to break any necks when they saw someone treating me like gum on the bottom of a shoe. So, that day, as you know, was the chance for all of us pollywogs to get some preemptive payback for the pain we were about to receive.”